The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-03-18
FARM NOTES.

molasses barrel. The molasses will
run out slowly, but it will all get out.
At recent exhibition in England,
where prizes were given for walking
horses, the speed attained was over
five miles an hour.
Fresh-made butter, with dainty flavor,
must always be sold in preference to a
butter made three months before it is
put on the market.
A writer i'm the Ddiryman says:
..The very poorest ensilage have ever
seen has been in the silos of agricul-
tural colleges. Fact"
Like produces like, and it Is inn
possible after grain is put into the bin
to tell whether it came from a large,
vigorous plant or not.
Poultry should have certain pro-
portion of salt i'm their food as well as
animals, as IL is necessary to the pro-
motion of health and thrift.
The man who puts up barbed-wire
fence in Nebraska. is responsible for
any damages sustained by men or
animals coming in contact with it.
Great Britain makes from her own
orchards 220, 000, 900 gallons of cider an
nually, and imports about 100000 bar
rels of apples from the United States.
1t seems quite certain that British In
dia's power Of shipment of wheat this
year was deficient &c, 000, 900 TO 80, OOO,-
600 bushels in 1886 compared with 1885.
Muslin answers all the purposes of
glass for the runs of little chicks, as it
retains the warmth longer. and will
turn water If tightly drawn on a frame.
1t is admitted that sheep in Colorado
have paid better than cattle or grain
the past twelve months. The same is
true of many other states and localities.
The cheapest and quickest way a
poor farmer can improve his pecuniary
condition is to improve his stock by
the persistent use of the best full-blOod
sires.
The one great cause of the small
profits of the majority of small fruit
growers and market-gardeners is due
to the fact that they try to work too
much land
The farmer who does not fence i'm
his stock when living along the line of
a railroad not only runs the risk Of
losing valuable animals, but endangers
the lives of travellers.
Roots are valuable aids to digestion
when given in connection with grain
food, but when fed exclusively or given
too lavishly they have a too laxative
effect, which quickly runs down the
sheep.
Even i'm the coolest weather the
manure from horse stables should be
drawn out on the land at least once a
week. 1t heats rapidly and soon be-
comes "fre-fanged," which greatly in
jures it.
There is no EXCUSE for lice on young
animals, yet it is not an infrequent
thing to find them in winter Animals
infested with such vermin are gen
orally i'm a rundown condition or else
filthy and dirty.
The fleece of the Merino sheep is
sometimes so thick and heavy that in
Vermont and Wisconsin, when the
sheep are sheared early in the season,
they are blanketed to prevent them
from becoming chilled. .r Il
If Holstein cow, giving forty quarts
of milk per day, and requiring no more
room than a common cow, giving ten
quarts, can be raised as easily as the
inferior one, is it wise in the farmers
to keep the poor milkerp
The annual product of maple sugar
in the United States is estimated at
40, 900, 900 pounds. Ii would be much
larger if farmers prepared for sugar
naking in winter, so as to be in full
readiness when the season opens.
Mr., Downing, perhaps the most IA
nous hOrticulturist of our own cOun-
try, included the melon among fruits.
Mr.. Henri Vilmorin, equally famous in
the Old World, classes the strawberry
among vegetables. Readers may take
their choice.
1t seems to be rule in horticulture
and fruit culture, as well as in agricul-
ture, that the finest varieties are usually
the most difficult to produce and the
most uncertain of yield. 1t is, there
fore, well to have some of the old
''stand-bys" in every orchard.
A Wisconsin farmer says: / have
kept wool sheep for near onto thirty
years, but / propose for the future to
handle nothing but mutton sheep. l
can make more money out of my lambs
than l can ont of wool, and always
have sure market for them.
Make drains, and thus allow the
water to run off rs fast us the snow
melts, in order to avoid slush and
dampness in the barnyard; but be care
full not to allow of any escape of the
liquid matter from the manure heap.
Use some kind of absorbent and save
it.
S. H. Marsh, of Michigan, says the
mulberry is the best post timber that
can be grown in this country, and that
it is almost rot-proof except at the sur
face of the ground. As it is easily
grown and in nearly all sections, it
should receive greater attention as post
timber.
OF the different roots, potatoes are
the most liable to injury by freezing;
beets next, and carrots still less, partly
because carrots usually grow most Of
their roots beneath the surface. Par
ships can be left in the ground all
winter, and are rather better for some
freezing.
1t is never best to churn all the
cream on hand. That which was
skinned last has not had time to get
into uniform condition with the rest,
and most of its butter goes into the
buttermilk. 1t also makes butter come
slowly, and after long time has been
needlessly spent in churning.
Some of the best paying farms i'm the
United States consist of almost pure
white sand, but they are devoted to
fruits and poultry, thus economizing
labor and space. The success of a
farmer does not depend SO much upon
the quality of the soil as upon the kind
of crops and mode of management.
1t is important that land plaster be
sown early enough in the season to
have it thoroughly dissolved by rains.
Any time in the winter is better than
after dry weather has come in spring.
1t is common practice in places where
it is used largely to sow it on clover in
the winter before other and hurrying
work hpoinS